MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer Jerry Murphy, of the Two Street Strutters in the Comic Division, decided to strut down Broad Street shirtless during an unusually cold Mummers Parade, on Jan. 1, 2018.

By Ashley Hoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com

The city did not stop these “historically chaotic celebrations” from happening in 1919 due to the pandemic or in 1934 due to the Depression. And this year’s official parade may be officially canceled, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of rogue Mummers from vowing to take their strut to the streets for an unofficial event. This time, it’s going to be a “protest.”

A Facebook page that two anonymous hosts started calls it a “Mummers/New Year’s Day protest against Mayor Kenney.” It’s happening on South Second Street, instead of along the South Broad Street parade route where many take in the spectacle. Roughly 2,700 people have indicated they’ll be in on it, and 8,300 more expressed interest. Social distancing is not expected, and it seems that safety precautions may even be used to lampoon Gov. Tom Wolf. Mayor Jim Kenney says the city won’t use force to break up the proceedings.

We talked to one expected participant, and this is everything we know so far about what could be a Mummers protest march.

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